Breaking The Stars
by BeyondThe9th
Summary: 100 years after the great fall of Orannis, another more powerful threat rears its ugly head. Now the grandchildren of the second seven must face a power far greater than their own. Please review there is more.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

It was 100 years after the second fall of Orannis and the Kingdom was rising back up into its old glory. The second seven, as they had come to be known, had long since past thought the ninth gate of death to their ultimate end with their legend continuing only in their children. However their legend would soon be eclipsed.

Chapter 1

The young man lay crouched in the bushes, a bead of sweat dripping off his brow. His heart raced with the rush of a hunt, however he was the one being hunted. He looked around searching for a new hiding space, knowing that if he stayed in one spot for to long he would be found.

"There!" he whispered. And like an enchanted arrow he shot across the room, but he was to slow. His motion caught the eye of his stalker. He heard footsteps, click, clack, click, clack, closer and closer they came until…

"Got you! I win big brother. Now you have to show me your new mark."

Elizabeth was elated at her latest victory against Nick. She had always looked up to him not only as her older brother of 16, but also as a very skilled charter mage. He could do anything in the eyes of a twelve year old. He was particularly good at forming healing and protection marks, but these didn't interest Elizabeth. She wanted something spectacular.

Nick sat down on the floor opposite Elizabeth and reached into the charter, the soft and pleasant warmth flooding his body. He cast together a small string of marks for fire and light. He had found in his long hours in his study that if he cast these marks a sort of explosion of fire appeared all around him. He placed his hands on Elizabeth's and released the marks. He then backed up for it was a new spell and he did not know if the fire was harmful to an outside observer. Suddenly the hall lit up and the sounds of Elizabeth's laughter filled the castle.

This laughter was immediately silenced by the Great Hall doors swinging open with a terrible boom. They were thrown open with such haste that they were only stopped by the stone wall. The boom of the messenger sending's voice rang clear over the explosions with the help of charter magic.

"Sir Nicolas, your services are needed." That was all he said before he turned and ran back out the way he came. Nick knew by the blood stained apron that the sending wore that his healing spells were needed in the hospital. He sprinted out the door leaving Elizabeth with the fire. She was too young to assist with what was going on.

Nick came to a sliding stop when he saw who lay in the emergency bed. It was his mother, Surry. She had blood all over her but he couldn't tell what from. Her eyes were open staring at the ceiling, even as the medical sendings ran around here checking for any sign of physical harm. She just stared.

He placed a spell on her body so she closed her eyes and sank into a deep sleep until he could think of how to properly treat her. After he was finished, Nick heard the door swing open again. He looked down the medical ward to see the gruesome sight of his father lying on a stretcher covered in blood. The sendings laid him on the bed next to Surry's and Nick looked him over. He had gashes all over his body and Nick realized that it was most likely his blood that covered Surry as well. Mind overwhelmed, Nick thought about his options. The charter would be a dangerous path even with his advanced knowledge of healing marks, the skills required to perform such a large healing are very dangerous to the caster. However if he didn't act quickly his father would most likely slip beyond his ability to heal. He drew a deep breath to calm himself. Nick knew what he had to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nick positioned himself beside his wounded father, his breath coming in long slow draws. He closed his eyes and reached out for the charter. He began to form long chains of charter marks forming together in his mind like strings. He weaved the complex chains together and after a few minutes had them all together, save for three.

The master charter marks were very dangerous to cast. If he wasn't a skilled enough mage to resist he could have been completely consumed by the marks he was casting. Nick had done them individually before, but never anything like this. Never with his own fathers life on the line. He took a final deep breath while forming the master marks in his head. He spoke their names while he formed their symbols with his fingers. The master marks of healing, peace, and life flowed out of Nick's hands as white light shot out of his mouth. He could feel the life before him restoring and as Calavern opened his eyes and a great sigh of relief passed thought Nick, as much for his father's safety as for his own. Calavern sat up with newly found strength.

"I owe you my life son. You truly are sent straight from the Charter." Calavern knew that Nick was a very powerful charter mage, but to witness a 16 year old cast three master marks and not even have a swore throat was amazing. "Now what did the demons do to Surry?"

Nick had completely forgotten about his mother, but when he turned around she was still asleep. She seemed almost dead with her eyes closed. Nick released the marks of slumber he had placed and prepared new ones for calming and other mind soothing marks. Nick knew from experience that the body was not the only thing that could be wounded in a battle.

As he released his slumber marks Surry shot bolt upright and started flailing about. She settled herself and began to speak, slowly and muffled as if she was just a puppet.

"Of the nine gates in death, which is the one that is only one way? The stars. Of the nine gates in death, which do the dead fear most? The stars. Of the nine gates in death, which has been broken? The…" Nick could tell she struggled within herself to ether keep in or blurt out whatever she had to say. It was just then that he saw she had a black string coming out of the back of her head. Not a loose strand of hair, but a dark shadow dripping string that was held by something powerful deep within death. Nick kept his composure for fear of whatever holding the other end of the sting killing his mother, but he reached over to a mage's dagger very slowly. "The faithful servant will walk the living world again. The stars cannot hold the one named…" Nick chose that very unfortunate movement to lift the charter spelled dagger out of its sheath and cut the strand all in one motion. It severed and recoiled leaving Surry in a daze with here eyes unfocused looking around the room. It was clear she remembered nothing.

"Its good to see you two back safely enough," the chief mage of the hospital said with a very awed look upon his face.

Looks like this where normal for someone of Surry's status. She was the Abhorsen, a charter and free magic mage that used the powers of the seven bells to walk and work in death. Her job was to keep the dead in death.

Her son Nick, named after the unwilling carrier of Orannis all those years ago, was the Abhorsen-in-waiting and he had already begun his training. Part of that training was to read "The Book of the Dead." In his studies he knew that anything powerful enough to enslave the Abhorsen was no ordinary dead who could be sent away with only a bell and a powerful wielder. This dead or free magic creature must be something particularly nasty. He also didn't like the sound of "the stars" being broken. Nick thought they were referring to the final portal into eternal rest, but they couldn't be overcome. Not even by the Abhorsen.

Suddenly, Nick took charge of the room. He ordered everyone out, his harsh voice surprising even himself. He wanted to know what he was in for, what the kingdom was in for. His father had heard the message, but seemed to have blocked it out. His eyes were tearing up at the sight of Surry in such a condition.

"Father? Father, what happened? I thought you were just out for a ride across the river." Nick's voice wasn't that of a son's but of an Abhorsen's. He was gradually stepping into his inherited life of protection.

Calavern's words came slowly and with much thought behind them as if remembering a fond moment from childhood. Thought the moment described was not happy at all and as Nick listened he felt as if a cold finger rose up and down his spine.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"We crossed the river on horseback over the stepping stones, your mother cast a spell so we would not fall into the current. We headed south at a light trot to clear our heads of the troubled times in the kingdom. Not even a fortnight ago Surry banished a free magic elemental as powerful as king Touchstone of old.

We were making our way back north still hugging the riverbank and we stopped at an apple orchard. We sat under the trees for a moment and all was calm and peaceful. Then out of nowhere dense fog roles in, but not from any direction. It just appears and with it the all to familiar stench of free magic.

We both rise up and arm ourselves but it is no use. There is nothing to fight, so we stand back to back and wait.

Surry breaks the silence first. She says she is going to draw the maker of the fog out and for me to strike anything that moves. She pulls out the third bell and while she rings it she whispers something.

Now I have watched her use the bells before and I think I have become quite good at knowing the calls of each one, but this. This bell sounded clear and true for only a moment before started to become off pitch and wild. I think I could even see it trying to jump out of Surry's hands.

Then came the voice. That terrible voice of someone that's been imprisoned for too long and wants revenge for whoever put them there.

'You, Abhorsen, will not break me this time. I have grown so powerful not even the stars can hold me.'

I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but at that moment there was a terrible whistling sound and dead hands formed all around us.

I don't understand it. They didn't come running up, they just materialized. It was the strangest thing I have ever encountered, but I had no time to wonder about how they came to be there. Surry had passed out shortly after the bell's note failed. I was left alone with more dead than I have ever seen before, but they did not advance. They stood their ground, waiting for me to come at them.

They suddenly parted and a figure standing at least a full two heads taller than any normal man walked out of the gap. He had a large sword at his side and bells across his chest. He eyed Surry with a look that was as menacing as it was calm. This look scared me. Anyone who looks at the Abhorsen like that is trouble.

He, like his servants, didn't attack ether. He just looked. After what seemed like an hour I decided that I had to charge him, to save Surry from whatever he was going to do to her. She had been lying on the ground since the fog rolled in and I thought if I could just break his gaze away from her she might wake up."



As Calavern charged the necromancer his hand formed the charter spells for fire and pain. He didn't have to destroy his opponent just send him away.

The necromancer simply stepped aside with speed too fast for a normal human. He made a waving motion with his hand to signal the dead around them to attack. They focused their attention on Calavern, cutting him badly. They didn't kill the poor man, but they clearly wanted too. The necromancer put up his hand so the dead would stop their attack. Calavern lay on the ground as he advanced towards Surry.

The last thing Calavern remembered was the necromancer bending down and putting what looked to be a black string around Surry's neck. He passed out from blood loss, but not before he managed to speak and form the marks for safety and escape. He could feel the necromancer's power gripping them trying to hold them within his grasp, but he was too late. The marks already covered Calavern and Surry. Sending them into a great spiral of what seemed like water, but under closer inspection it was made up of millions and millions of charter marks.


End file.
